Saturday, November 8, 2008

A famous cooking apple--sometimes called "Northern Pie"--this heirloom is also great for eating and is still enjoyed across the Northeast.

Northern Spy is large, very ribbed, and a little gnarly. A streaky red blush mostly covers yellow-green (actually more yellow than green). My example has a small patch of tiny black russet spots, a wen-like extrudence, and numerous small dents and bruises. Most of these are probably from my own ham-handling, but they suggest a sensitive vulnerability.

So, no beauty queen, but a right stout-looking apple. It smells faintly, and sweetly, of cider.The flesh is yellow, juicy, and coarse. The bite is a little tender but still crisp. I'm not sure when this was picked, but the texture turns just a little mealy into the chew. The apple oxidized quickly.

A hint of acid tartness gives this apple a bit of life and character on the tongue. Still Northern Spy is mostly a mild cidery apple with a few higher notes. Hint of spice, pear, and cherry, very agreeable.Manysources repeat, without attribution, the story that Northern Spy was found in an orchard in East Bloomfield, New York; some of these provide further information. The basis for this history may be an 1847 letter from Oliver Chapin, who wrote

The first Northern Spy apple trees were raised from seeds brought from the Northwest part of Connecticut, about the year 1800, by Elijah Taylor. The original tree was set in an orchard by Heman Chapin, and some sprouts were taken from it by Roswell Humphrey, and by him the fruit was first raised...as the original tree died before bearing. (original emphasis)

This makes the best pies, hands down. Unfortunately, where I live, the Northern Spy is becoming more difficult to come by, as it is apparently the favored apple for cider houses due to its size and unique cider-y flavor. I nabbed the last bag in the county (it seemed!) last fall to make my Thanksgiving pies, and they were rather pitiful specimens - badly bruised, a bit soft....but the pies? Gustatory perfection (if I may say so myself!). This is an old variety well worth seeking out for anyone wanting to make the perfect pie!!!

That is a point well taken! I have to admit to breaking down in tears when the old orchard nearby uprooted the old trees to replace them with high-yield dwarf varieties. There were 2 Northern Spy trees they took down, and the memories of climbing those trees as a child, looking out over the Catskill Mountains, and surrounded by the most enormous apples - about as close to heaven as one can imagine. The long and short of it is, you are absolutely right: demand can surely work wonders for preservation!